


Just Another Interview

by clgfanfic



Category: War of the Worlds (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-19
Updated: 2013-02-19
Packaged: 2017-11-29 19:31:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/690613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clgfanfic/pseuds/clgfanfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A missing scene from the episode "He Feedth Among the Lilies."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Another Interview

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published in the zine Green Floating Weirdness #3 under the pen name Gillian Holt.

_"Will you tell me the story?"_

 

          _Adventurous indeed_ , Ironhorse thought as he accompanied Suzanne down the hall to the room in the borrowed safe house where she and Blackwood had been conducting their interviews.  At times the lack of faith the civilian members of the Blackwood Project showed in the Special Forces officer annoyed the man.  Today it just hurt.  While Harrison Blackwood, the civilian astrophysicist leader of the small troop of alien fighters, was out with one of the earlier interviewees, Karen McKinney, Lt. Colonel Paul Ironhorse was left to questionably fulfill the Project's current obligations.

          Well, he'd do just fine.  It wasn't like he'd never had any interpersonal communications training…

          Ironhorse was definitely going to have to have a talk with the scientist, though.  Blackwood had responsibilities to the Project that _had_ to come before personal devotions.  Blackwood couldn't just drop everything because he was attracted to one of the women they'd spoken to, even if her story was slightly different…

          And just because Ironhorse was a soldier did _not_ mean he had the compassion of a moldering stump, either…

          The colonel sighed as he sat down at the table and saw the stack of files waiting for them.  Eight more stories to be heard.  It was going to be a long day…

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

 

          The first seven interviews sounded just like the ones he had already sat through or listened to on the recordings made as the individuals told their stories to Suzanne and Blackwood.  The Project was building up an impressive database on the aliens' movements and peculiar activities, but it was difficult to see how it was going to help them or the victims.  No one they had spoken to had the slightest notion as to why they had been singled out, or what the aliens had gleaned from their encounters.

          Plenty of pieces, but no picture, he mused while he waited for Suzanne to call for the last interviewee.

          The microbiologist/psychologist was pacing around the room, notating the last file and stretching her legs.  Pausing, Suzanne stretched and yawned.  "Coffee?" she asked the soldier.

          "I'll get it," Ironhorse said, thankful for any diversion to break the monotony.  Walking over to the Mr. Coffee machine they were keeping on a small cart in the corner, he filled two cups and carried them back to the round wooden table.

          Suzanne leaned against the edge of the polished surface, still studying the last file.  She frowned as Ironhorse pushed her cup of stimulant within reach.

          "What?" he asked, setting his own cup down on one of the folders.

          "This could be a tough one," she replied.  "It seems that a six-year-old and her father were the victims.  He disappeared, but the girl's mother found her a few hours later."  Suzanne looked up at the soldier.  "Now, why would they leave the child?"

          Ironhorse shrugged.  "Don't ask me, Suzanne.  Very little of what these things do makes sense to me."

          McCullough took a sip of the hot liquid and set the cup back down.  "Well, maybe the girl can tell us—"  She stopped, shaking her head.  "Great.  It seems that the child told her mother what she saw, but has refused to talk about it again…  And she's developed an obsessive attachment to a teddy bear she had with her the day her father disappeared."

          Ironhorse sighed heavily.  The worst part of war was the injured children, and even if no one knew, this little girl was another casualty.

          Picking up the phone, Suzanne instructed the soldier who answered to send in Mrs. Thomas and her daughter.

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

 

          The first thing Ironhorse noticed was the foot-tall teddy bear that the child was clinging to.  The toy was well loved, the light brown fuzz worn down to the felt base in some places.  Large blue buttons served as eyes, and frayed black thread still created the impression of a nose and mouth that was tipped up in a smile.

          The little girl holding the bear looked frightened.  Her brown hair was held back in a long ponytail and her large green eyes remained fixed on the hardwood floors as her mother directed her to one of the comfortable chairs across from the Project members with a hand on her shoulder.  "Sit down, Rebecca," Mrs. Thomas said softly, glancing nervously at Suzanne and Ironhorse.

          The woman, an older version of her daughter in appearance, smiled apologetically as she took a seat herself.  "I don't know what the doctors told you, but Rebecca hasn't spoken about her father since the day he disappeared.  I don't know if we can help you."

          Suzanne nodded, studying the girl.  Rebecca carefully arranged the bear in her lap, but seemed unaware of the two adults seated across from her.

          "I don't really know why I even came," Mrs. Thomas went on.  "Bruce has been gone for three months now.  The police said they don't really have anything to go on…"  She trailed off, looking uncomfortable again.  "Rebecca's story didn't make sense.  I know he wouldn't just leave us like that."

"The report we have includes a description of what happened to your husband," Suzanne said.  "Is that what Rebecca told you?"

          Trudy Thomas nodded.  "Yes.  That's what she told me when I found her in the park.  She and her father were overdue, and I went looking…  Becky was sitting on the swings…  I called the police, but she refused to talk to them, so I told them what she'd explained to me when I found her.  I've taken her to specialists, doctors, but—"  Trudy shook her head.

          Suzanne nodded at the woman, then quietly asked Ironhorse, "Can we talk?"  He nodded, and they walked over to the coffee machine, setting their cups down as the microbiologist said softly.  "I don't think we can do anything for them.  We have the report, and if the girl won't talk about it, I don't think we should push."

          Ironhorse nodded.  "I agree, Doctor, but I'd like to try something first.  If Rebecca doesn't volunteer to tell us what happened, we'll close up shop."

          "What did you have in mind?" McCullough asked, worry creasing her features.  "I—"

          "Trust me, Doctor.  I wouldn't do anything that might hurt the child."

          Suzanne paused a moment, then nodded.  Ironhorse smiled reassuringly, surprising McCullough.  She returned to the table and sat down.  Ironhorse followed, leaning against the edge, then reached down and pulled off his cowboy boots, setting them side by side on the floor.

          Rebecca glanced up, cautiously watching the soldier.  Ironhorse paid no attention to the child as he rolled up the sleeves of his black and grey flannel shirt to just below his elbows.  Then, catching her gaze for the first time, the colonel smiled and proceeded over to where the noonday sun flooded through one of the windows, creating a puddle of light on the dark hardwood floor.

          Taking a seat in the middle of the rectangle of light, Ironhorse pulled his legs up, Indian style, and straightened his back.  He looked at Rebecca, this time causing her to glance away, but it was only a moment before she was watching him again.

          _This just might work_ , he thought.

          Leaning forward slightly, Ironhorse began to sketch out a foot-long oval on the floor with the tips of his fingers.  The action dislodged the dust from the surface, sending it up into the shaft of light and creating a dancing rainbow of illumination.  In a soft voice the soldier began to speak in Cherokee, the words hesitant at first until he was comfortable with the language again.

          Rebecca's attention became more focused when Ironhorse began speaking, her green eyes following his hand as it continued to sweep out the oval.  After the first few sentences, the colonel looked up, catching the girl's eye as he continued with the story, still in Cherokee.  His hands moved slowly, the one rising from the floor to punctuate the story with deft but gentle movements.  When he finished a few minutes later, he smiled, saying, "Ho?"

          Rebecca's head tilted slightly to the right.

          "Now you say, hey," he explained in English to the girl, "to finish the story."

          "Hey," she whispered, and Ironhorse motioned her to join him.  Sliding from her chair, the girl proceeded hesitantly over to stand just at the edge of the sunlight prison that seemed to trap the soldier.

          Suzanne and Trudy, who had both been watching Ironhorse in rapt bewilderment, leaned forward.

          "What did you say?" Becky asked, her voice pitched just above a whisper.  In the sunlight Ironhorse looked very much like the mystical storyteller he was playing.

          "A story," he said, nodding at her teddy bear.  "A very special story about how the first bear came to walk mother earth."

          "Bears?" Rebecca asked, her large eyes growing even rounder.  She hugged the teddy closer.  "Like Stanley?"

          The right side of Ironhorse's mouth tilted upward in a crooked grin.  "Not exactly like Stanley, but close."

          "Will you tell me the story?" she asked, the excitement in her voice telling Ironhorse half the battle was won.

          He nodded, indicating a spot on the floor just in front of himself and in the confines of the sunlight.  "Sit down," he directed gently.

          Rebecca stepped into the sunlight and lowered herself to the floor, drawing up her legs to imitate him.  She positioned Stanley in her lap, his blue button eyes facing the soldier.

          Ironhorse paused for a moment, allowing the tension to build slightly before he began to sweep out the same oval on the wood floor.  "Many, many years ago, before you or I were born, there was one clan among the Cherokee Indians, the Ani Tsa' gu hi, and in this tribe there were many happy families, but there was one small boy who would stay out all day in the mountains.  He would get up very early and disappear into the trees and would not come home all day.

          "Then, after a time, he stopped eating the food his mother and father prepared, and brown hair began growing all over his body.  His parents were worried, and they asked the little boy why he would not eat with them anymore.  The little boy said that he liked the food that he found in the forest better.

          "His parents tried to make the boy stay at home, but he wouldn't.  Finally, his mother asked if they could come with him into the forest, so they could see what it was he did all day.

          "The little boy told his mother and father that they would have to fast for seven days – that means they couldn't eat for a week – if they wanted to follow him into the mountains.

          "Well, this had everyone in the tribe very interested, since everyone wanted to know where the boy went.  So the Ani Tsa' gu hi held a council meeting, and they decided to fast for seven days so they could follow the boy into the mountains.

"People from other villages, hearing about this, sent their leaders and teachers to the Ani Tsa' gu hi to try and talk the people out of following the boy into the mountains, but it was too late.  All the Ani Tsa' gu hi had fasted the seven days and were on their way into the mountains when the leaders and teachers arrived.

          "The people from the other villages saw that there was brown hair beginning to grow on the people of Ani Tsa' gu hi, and they were frightened.

          "The Ani Tsa' gu hi called out to the frightened visitors as they passed not to be afraid.  They were going out where there was much food to be eaten.  'We shall be called yamu' – that means bears – they said as they passed the visitors.  'And, when you are hungry, you can call us and we will give you our bodies, so that you can eat.  Do not be afraid to kill us, for we will always be alive.'

          "The visiting leaders and teachers were then taught songs to call the bear, and when they were finished, the bears went off into the forest.  Ho?"

          "Hey?" Rebecca asked, then smiled when Ironhorse grinned and nodded.  "Wow," she breathed.  "Bears are people?"

          "A very long time ago," Ironhorse said.

          "Then Stanley is a real person, too," Rebecca concluded.

          Ironhorse nodded solemnly.  "All the animals are people.  They are the creature people, the four-leggeds, and they all have special stories and lessons to teach us.  Do you know what Bear's lesson is?"

Rebecca shook her head.

"Bear is a special kind of teacher.  He can look inside himself and others and gives us the strength to tell all the secrets that are scary and frighten us.  Bear gives us courage and power to defeat whatever frightens us."

Rebecca looked away.

"Do you think Stanley has a story he can tell me?"

          The girl looked back at the soldier.  "I think so," she said softly.

          Ironhorse leaned forward, his hands extended for the toy.  Becky hesitated, then lifted Stanley and set him in the man's hands.  The soldier held the bear so that he stood between them.  "What's Stanley's story, Rebecca?"

          "He and my daddy and me were at the park," she started, pausing to chew on her lower lip.  Staring at the teddy bear, she continued, "Stanley wanted to go on the slide.  My daddy was sitting on the swings…"  Her face puckered.  "I didn't like the people who came for my daddy."

          "What did the people do?" Ironhorse asked softly, adding, "Ho?" in case she wanted to stop.

          Rebecca looked from Stanley to the colonel.  "The story's not over," she told him.  "They made my daddy all green.  He didn't move.  They put a buzz-thing in his side."

          "Ho?"

          She shook her head.  "I slided down, but one of the people made me green with a flashlight.  I couldn't move for a long time…  I heard my daddy yelling, and one of the people went inside him."

          "Rebecca," Ironhorse said and she looked at him, "what did these people look like?"

          "A man and a woman and a big monkey frog," Becky replied, chewing her lower lip again.

          "Does Stanley have any more to tell me?" he asked, handing the toy back to the girl.

          She hugged the bear tight and nodded.  "My daddy went with the strangers.  He wasn't supposed to go with strangers.  He left me alone."  She stood and ran back to her mother, who hugged her, smoothing down her hair.

          "That wasn't my daddy," Becky said defiantly, and stomped her foot.  Ironhorse stood and walked over to rest a hand on the girl's back.  Rebecca looked over her shoulder, her green eyes meeting his black.  "My daddy isn't coming back, is he."

          "No, sweetheart, I'm afraid he isn't."

          She turned her face back to her mother's shoulder.  "Ho," she said sadly.

          "Hey," Ironhorse whispered.


End file.
